Purpose To develop a model of the optimal mentoring environment for medical residents. The authors propose that such an environment is a function of a relationship that rests upon a set of interactional foundations that allow a protégé to capitalize on the strengths of the mentor, and it facilitates behaviors that will enable the protégé to develop and internalize the requisite knowledge, skill...

Research into workplace mentoring is principally focussed on predictors and psychosocial and instrumental outcomes, while there is scarcely any in-depth research into relational characteristics, outcomes and processes. This article aims to illustrate these relational aspects. It reports a co-constructed auto-ethnography of a dyadic mentoring relationship as experienced by mentor and protégé. Th...

This opening article defines the ways in which three mentoring interaction elements--focus, purpose, and authorship--distinguish between effective and ineffective mentoring relationship styles. The framework described can help mentors better understand the difference between prescriptive and instrumental styles and differentiate laissez-faire from developmental mentoring. It also reveals unique...

The innovative nature of e-mentoring along with its ongoing adoption process provided the reasons for conducting an innovation–adoption study on e-mentoring. A sample of 234 mentors that have been employed by Ergani Center, a well respected Greek mentoring organization, were asked to identify with the use of an online questionnaire the factors that influence the adoption of e-mentoring. Gender,...

Individual differences shape the needs and characteristics of protégés, the processes through which mentoring may influence protégés’ developmental trajectories, and the social networks into which the mentors enter. The literature on the influences of gender, ethnicity, and age on mentoring is reviewed and discussed as examples of how mentoring programs may have different influences on, and out...

Despite the crucial role of mentoring, little literature exists that addresses distance mentoring among health researchers. This article provides three case studies showcasing protégés at different stages of career development (one in graduate school, one as an early-stage researcher, and one as an established researcher). Each case study provides a brief history of the relationship, examines t...

We studied mentoring relationships between undergraduate and graduate students in a summer undergraduate research program, over three years. Using a grounded theory approach, we created a model of research mentoring that describes how the roles of the mentor and the student can change. Whereas previous models of research mentoring ignored student roles and treated mentor roles as static, our mo...

Mentoring is an essential catalyst for a successful medical career in science or clinical practice. In recent years, tools have been developed to measure the impact of mentoring on career achievements, and numerous models have been developed to improve mentor training. Sid Gilman, M.D., F.R.C.P., Chair of Neurology for 26 years at the University of Michigan, is well-recognized as a role model f...

A mentor can mean the difference between a mentoree's failure and success. Yet mentoring is more than an altruistic venture. A good mentor will be more likely to recruit and retain strong student and postdoctoral candidates, and cultivate productive personnel. Despite these advantages, faculty often receive little, if any, mentoring training. Here, three panelists, Marianne Bronner-Fraser, Ph.D...

Traditional approaches to formal youth mentoring have focused primarily on improving the lives of "at-risk" youth through the assignment of individual mentors who are typically disconnected from youth's communities. Similarly, research in the field of formal mentoring has emphasized the dyadic relationship between the mentor and the mentee, with less attention paid to the broader relational con...